


The Sound of Silence

by GrowlingPeanut



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Borderlands 2 Spoilers, F/M, Siren Rhys, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 00:51:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5949988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrowlingPeanut/pseuds/GrowlingPeanut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Vaults offer more than monsters and material riches. But these...<em>gifts</em>...aren't always appreciated. Rhys doesn't think the benefits of his newly-awoken abilities outweigh the risks...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sound of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> So this one requires a little context. Some of you will know about the “big” Borderlands story I have planned, called Unconventional. I have a few chapters up over on my fanfiction.net account, but it’s going to undergo (yet another) major rewrite. In the interest of saving time and space, I’ll just say that these scenes will show up in Unconventional, just tweaked a little, and...with a better ending.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine.  
>  **Read, enjoy, review, and share!**

“ _FIONA!_ ”

The gunshot echoed off the surrounding cliffs, ringing in Rhys’ ears. She seemed so far away, caught between his eyes and the barrel of the shotgun. A second seemed like an hour as the bullet sliced through the heavy air. Rhys couldn’t look away. He just stood there, feeling frozen, cold, like all the blood had left his body. She was going to die. Fiona, a Vault Hunter, his friend, his _lover_...was milliseconds from death.

He could see her twisting away, trying to dodge, but she wasn’t going to make it. He knew it was futile, to reach out to her, to scream her name again, as if that would somehow save her. He did it anyway. _Why couldn’t he have been closer? Pushed her out of the way? Taken the bullet himself?_ No, he was helpless to do anything but watch. The slowly-advancing bullet would bury itself into her skull, directly between her eyes. Those beautiful green eyes. And then she’d be gone. Dead.

Something foreign welled up within him, filling his veins with heat. She didn’t deserve to go out like this. Not now, not ever. _He wasn’t going to let that happen._ As soon as this thought was firmly anchored in his brain, time suddenly seemed to catch up with itself. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, feel his muscles straining as he stretched across the sand toward her.

And that’s when it happened. All at once. A sharp _crack_ , louder than the gunshot, ricocheted off the stone walls of the canyon. The ground between Fiona and the gunner trembled, then exploded, tossing up a dervish of sand. Fiona was thrown to the side from the force of the blast, and Rhys watched as the bullet whistled harmlessly past her ear. The man holding the shotgun stumbled backward with a grunt, but didn’t lose his balance. Horror and anger boiled in Rhys’ blood as the gunner steadied himself and lined up another shot at Fiona, now lying dazed and defenseless in the dirt.

With a scream that felt like it shredded his vocal cords, Rhys sprinted toward the other man. Instantly, the gun’s muzzle swung around, level with his chest, and Rhys raised his left hand in reflexive defense, even though he knew it would do nothing to stop a bullet. Only he proved himself wrong because the shot never came. As soon as he opened his palm, a wave of piercing heat lanced down his arm and half a second later, hell broke loose. A ripple of energy pulsed across the short distance separating Rhys from his almost certain death, hitting the gunner with a blinding flash of light. Electricity crackled, filling the air with the sharp scent of ozone and smoke.

And then it was over. No light, no supercharged air… _no gunman._ Rhys stared at the ground where the man had stood. There was no body. No blood. Only a thin sheet of glass in the sand and a few dissipating wisps of smoke. Rhys’ chest was tight, his head was swimming, he felt so nauseous. The world spun in front of his eyes as the heat in his arm ebbed away, leaving behind an equally painful cold. It felt like liquid nitrogen was being injected into his veins. Burning and freezing simultaneously.

He was barely aware of Fiona muttering “what the hell” before he crashed to his knees and pitched forward, throwing up a paste of half-digested drakefruit. God, it hurt. Everything _hurt._

Footsteps crunched toward him. “What did you _do?!_ ” Fiona demanded. “What the _hell just happened?!_ ”

He could only shake his head as his stomach flipped again, forcing hot, bitter acid up his throat. He gagged, spitting it out onto the sand, gasping for breath. “I...don’t know...I think I...killed him…”

Fiona knelt down and ran her fingers over the glass. “Well, whatever that was, it was hot enough to do _this_ …” She stared at him, then pointed. “Look, Rhys.”

He glanced down at his chest. Brilliant blue glowed back at him.

“I’ve got to take you to Sanctuary. Now.”

****************************

There was absolutely no sound from beyond the door. Even the air in the hallway seemed motionless. She reached for the doorknob, turning it slowly. “Rhys...?” The hinges creaked as she pushed the door open, loud amidst the silence. The room on the other side was dark, and she could barely make out a shape slumped against the far wall. A waft of stale air hit her, dusty and sour. She grimaced.

“Rhys? Hey...” She focused on the familiar silhouette, trying not to stare at the faintly-glowing patterns pulsing across his skin. “Lilith and Maya said...” She trailed off, choked by the sudden lump rising in her throat, and wished her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dim light.

To say he looked bad would have been a terrible understatement. No, he looked _dead_. His clothes, normally so clean and precise, were rumpled, haphazard, and stained. His skin was ashen, his hair was tangled and unwashed, his lips were chapped and cracking. His eyes seemed to have sunk into his skull and he stared straight ahead with an unfocused, glazed expression, as if he wasn’t aware of her presence at all.

She swallowed, taking a step closer.

In a sudden flurry of motion, he was on his feet, backing away. His eyes, now focused, were wild, glinting in the low light, darting around the room. From her, to the door, back to her.

“Rhys...?”

He just shook his head frantically.

She held out her hands to him. “Rhys, it’s okay—”

“D-d-don’t. P-please.” His voice was hoarse, his breathing labored. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? You saved my life...” She started forward again. “Why would you—”

“S-stop, please, just—just stop,” he pleaded, still shaking his head and backing away from her. “Fiona, p-please...” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please...please...”

Her gut clenched as he looked up at her, desperation evident in his eyes. “I...don’t get it,” she admitted softly.

Rhys forced out something between a laugh and a sob, but didn’t offer any other answer; just kept shaking his head. After a long minute, he drew in a ragged breath and broke the tense silence. “I can’t control it.” He raised his left hand; slowly, looking at it with distant eyes.

Fiona could only watch, mesmerized by the erratic flashes of bright blue that twisted down her lover’s arm.

“Can’t control it,” he repeated, softer, more to himself.

“But aren’t—”

“NO! _You don’t get it_.”

The change of tone was enough to snap her out of whatever daze she’d fallen into. He was staring directly at her, and for the first time, she felt something cold creep into her chest at the sight of his mismatched eyes. The intensity and focus unnerved her. He looked...dangerous. Feral.

Yet it passed in an instant. Almost so quickly that she wasn’t sure she’d actually seen it.

“You know about Jack’s daughter,” he began, voice soft, once again watching his arm with that far-off expression. “She was a Siren, too. You know what she did?” He glanced up at her briefly. “She killed her own mother. When she was just a little girl. Because she _couldn’t control what she had!_ ”

Just like that, the edge was back and Fiona found that _she_ was the one stepping away this time.

“You saw what happened to him. The man who...” He cut himself off with another strange noise. “There wasn’t even enough of him left to leave a bloodstain...” Again, he made eye contact, but it wasn’t like before. All Fiona could see this time was pain. “I won’t let that happen to you.”

“It won’t, Rhys—”

“You don’t know that!” he barked. “You...you can’t p-possibly know t-that.” He took a few shaky steps backward and collapsed against the wall. “I’m s-sure Angel loved her m-mother...a-and yet...that wasn’t enough t-to keep it from happening, was it!? Sh-she killed...” He dissolved into tears before he could finish the sentence, sliding back down to the floor.

Fiona drifted across the room, falling weakly onto a couch, feeling totally helpless for only the second time in her life. Only this time was somehow worse than the first. The man she loved was literally falling to pieces right in front of her and so far, she hadn’t been able to do anything to stop it, despite being here, with him, capable and willing. Lilith had said he hadn’t eaten since that incident out in the Badlands. That had been three days ago.

“Rhys.”

Nothing but sobbing.

“You’re going to end up killing yourself,” she whispered.

“S-so let it h-happen,” was the broken mumble. “You’d a-all be b-better off...”

She drew in a sharp breath, unsure if he was being self _ish_ or self _less_. “You have to help me understand. Please.”

He blinked up at her, tears glistening on his face.

“When Helios crashed, people died. What makes one man so different from all—”

“Because it was _me_ ,” he cut in. His voice was surprisingly level. “Helios was Jack’s fault. But that man out there in the desert? _I_ was responsible for that. I… _vaporized_ him. I didn’t even have to _touch_ him! It’s inside me, and I don’t want it—”

“He was trying to kill me, Rhys!” she countered, standing again. “You weren’t going to let that happen! You were protecting me!”

“I don’t want this!” he screamed. “It hurts, okay?! It feels like I have _acid_ in my veins and I would gladly bleed myself dry just to _make it stop_ —” He doubled over onto his hands and knees with a moan, gagging up nothing but raw air and bile.

Fiona couldn’t watch. She shut her eyes and waited until the coughing stopped to open them again. “Tell me how I can help.”

He didn’t answer for a long time. Just stayed there on the floor, shaking, sobbing, looking so small. “You can leave.”

“I’m not leaving—”

“Fiona...p-please.”

She shook her head firmly. “I know you think there’s no way out of this, but you’re not doing yourself any favors by—”

“I already told you!” Hysteria was starting to creep into his voice. “You’re not safe around me!”

“I am _not_ going to leave you here like this—”

“Get out!”

“ _I love you, Rhys!_ ”

“GET. OUT!”

A hush fell over the room as they stared at each other. That same animalistic intensity was back in his tear-stained eyes, but this time, it didn’t scare her. It broke her heart. He _truly_ thought he was taking care of her. Slowly, she backed toward the door. He didn’t say anything, just watched her go.

The click of the latch was too loud in the quiet and she simply stood there, her heart pounding against her ribs. She'd never seen him in so much pain before. And what made it worse was the fact that it wasn't only physical pain. This was deeper. This was something she couldn't heal. She was losing him because he hadn't wanted to lose her.

Setting her jaw, she turned back, grabbing the doorknob. She couldn’t let him do this to himself. They hadn’t come all this way to—

The knob wouldn’t turn. "Rhys?! _Rhys!_ " She tried again. Still stuck. “Dammit, Rhys, I _won’t_ let you do this! I’m going to get Lilith!”

There was no answer. Even his crying had quieted. However, she heard one last hitched sob before a deafening gunshot pierced through the thick air. When her ears stopped ringing, all she could hear was silence.


End file.
